The daily gossip: Al Pacino is expecting a baby at age 83, Ryan Gosling hits back at his Ken haters, and more

Today's top entertainment and celebrity news

Al Pacino
(Image credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic)

1. Al Pacino, 83, is expecting a baby with his 29-year-old girlfriend

Say hello to his little friend. 83-year-old Al Pacino is expecting a child with his 29-year-old girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, TMZ reported. Pacino and Alfallah have been linked since April 2022. They "started seeing each other during the pandemic," a source previously told Page Six, adding that Alfallah "mostly dates very rich older men," including Mick Jagger. This will be Pacino's fourth child, as he shares 22-year-old twins with Beverly D'Angelo and a 33-year-old daughter with Jan Tarrant. The actor's baby news comes a few weeks after Robert De Niro confirmed he had welcomed another child at the age of 79, so the "Godfather Part II" co-stars will have something to bond over around the time they're both turning 100: their kids going off to college.

TMZ

2. Ryan Gosling responds to Barbie fans claiming he's too old to play Ken

Ryan Gosling is tapping into his Kenergy to unleash on the haters. In a new GQ profile, the actor fired back at fans who claim he's too old to play Ken in the "Barbie" movie. "It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken," he said. "Like you ever thought about Ken before this?" Gosling continued by calling out people who insisted they have "cared about Ken this whole time," shooting back, "No, you didn't. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never f--ked with Ken. That's the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed." This, Gosling added, is "why his story must be told," and he dubbed himself a "representative" for Ken. There's your best supporting actor Oscar campaign slogan right there: Honor the man, honor the Ken.

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GQ

3. Taika Waititi catches heat for claiming no one can name the director of 'Casablanca'

I think this is the beginning of a social media controversy. Taika Waititi is facing some online backlash for suggesting no one knows the name of the director of "Casablanca." In a Hollywood Reporter profile, the "Thor: Love and Thunder" filmmaker noted he isn't obsessed with "leaving behind a legacy," as "no one's going to remember us" anyway. As an example, Waititi asked, "What's the name of the director of 'Casablanca'? Arguably one of the greatest films of all time. No one knows his name. How the f--k do I expect to be remembered?" Michael Curtiz directed "Casablanca," a fact so many people on Twitter pointed out that the late filmmaker's name began trending. "Only a dude like Taika Waititi would say 'No one remembers who directed Casablanca,'" one tweet said, while another bemoaned Waititi's "Michael Curtiz slander." Here's rage-tweeting about you, kid.

The Hollywood Reporter

4. Raven-Symoné's exes had to sign NDAs

Is that so Raven? Her exes can't legally tell you. On the "Howie Mandel Does Stuff" podcast, "That's So Raven" star Raven-Symoné revealed that signing a non-disclosure agreement is a prerequisite for dating her. "All of my relationships, especially when I started dating, I had to get people to sign NDAs," she revealed, adding that she would ask romantic partners to sign paperwork "right before naughty time comes." The "Raven's Home" actress, who is now married, followed this practice with her future wife, having her lawyer put together the NDAs and keeping them in a filing cabinet under "relationships." While this was "very impersonal," she felt it was necessary for someone as famous as her. "I've still got all of them, so nobody can say anything," she stressed. It's a future of potential tell-all memoirs she can see.

Howie Mandel Does Stuff

5. Live-action 'How to Train Your Dragon' casts Hiccup and Astrid

"How to Train Your Dragon" isn't facing any hiccups in its transition to live-action, as the two central characters have already been cast. Universal has tapped Mason Thames to play the lead role of Hiccup in a live-action remake of DreamWorks' 2010 animated film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The 15-year-old actor starred in the 2022 horror film "The Black Phone," and he'll be playing the character originally voiced by Jay Baruchel. Meanwhile, Nico Parker has reportedly been cast as Astrid, the female lead originally voiced by America Ferrera. Parker, whose mom is Thandiwe Newton, recently played Joel's daughter on HBO's "The Last of Us." The rest of the cast for the 2025 film has yet to be revealed, though we're assuming all 17 of the "House of the Dragon" dragons are engaged in a cutthroat battle for the role of Toothless.

The Hollywood Reporter

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.